


Hell

by RichardLyex



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Emotional Manipulation, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Lewis is in some deep trouble, M/M, Multi, Psychological Trauma, Supernatural Elements, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-08-05 16:35:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16371206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RichardLyex/pseuds/RichardLyex
Summary: Takes a bit after Hellbent.After Lewis realized what he has done, he goes through some emotional trauma and his body rests for his own good, and a certain someone is taking advantage of it.Rated M for: Blood and Mature Language.





	1. Visions

"...Lewis... Lewis Peppers, can you hear me?"

Lewis' eyes slowly lit back from his sudden faint, his name rang in his head like a small echo that slowly faded in due time.

"Open your eyes, Peppers. I need you to see what you've done."

Slowly rising up from the cold ground, he'd seen nothing around him but pitch darkness. Small green flames appeared in a line formation, hinting the dizzied and confused ghost to follow.

All of the sudden, he found himswlf in front of a vision of his mansion, burning with horrified screams, what was even worse, that he slowly recognized the tone of those voices.

"Welcome to hell, Lewis. I've been waiting for you."

The scenario in front of him distanced in a great measure, the ground turned into straight line of red sand, with only a bottomless pit on both sides.

"W-What is all of this?!"

The fear in his voice echoed in the loud air, and the voice answered back without hesitation.

"Your eyes are opening for the first time, Peppers. I would advise you to watch carefully on what you've done."

The path onwards felt eternal, the sand holes around him seemed to sink into continous darkness, it didn't take long when he started hearing eary and creepy sounds.

"Because of your wrath, your only and dearest friend has met his death because of you."

From the sandstorm slowly appeared a standing figure he has well known, taring in shock at the shadow he stuttered out terrified.

"A-Arthur... Is that really you?"

With no hesitation, his steps quickened towards the shadow as it slowly materialized to the person he called out. Immobile, emotionless, but it was more than enough for him to be a blattering mess

"I-I-It's really you! Oh Arthur i'm so sorry! I-I didn't-... i would never-!"

"Yet you did... and now i'm dead because of you."

His body slowly turned all bloody, his eye sockets remained pitch black, making Lewis fear to even stare into them for too long.

"I-I know, a-and i'm sorry o-okay? I never meant to hurt you..."

A sharp scoff was released from the ever so decomposizing image of Arthur, his response nearly cracked his soul, his voice faiding yet sharp as he stared right in his eyes.

"Liar."

The ghost held back his purple tears in hope it will all go away when he could finally embrace his friend, he missed that helping and tired yet determined grin of his so much, it always stengthened the team's morale. If he could just see it one last time...

"I-I know that i did, and i-... i swear i'll fix everything!"

Just before he could embrace his small frame in his arms, the body dissolved in grains of salt right before him, leaving a low and disgusted whisper.

"Always lies..."

At the edge of desperatiin, he wildly tried to grab back any graun of sand that vanished in the air, the remains in his hands simply dissolving without a trace. And the voice boomed yet again as a light in a dark tunnel.

"His remaining family will curse your own for the tragedy that you caused."

Only for a short time, Lance appeared behind the sandstorm only to slowly disappear as he walked right beside him,

"Lance please... please-..."

"However ya see it, ye know yer just justifyin' yerself."

For Lewis it was still a miracle that he was still able to stand from the continous guilt that was continously hitting his soul. And the voice didn't seem to be in any more clement for it.

"Your loved one will never want to see you again."

Just to see that Vivi was looking at him with a pissed off attitude brought a great ammount of shame on his burden, her voice like of the rest spat like venom on him,

"You're nothing of the Lewis i always knew of. You're just a heartless monster that takes his semblance."

and unlike the rest, she didn't let him see her for long enough before dissolving like the rest, and Lewis could only wark forwards with his purple tears already tainting the sand around his feet. His voice too busy to hold hiccups of shame to even say anything back to her. With only the judgemental voice ringing in the sandstorm.

"Deep down, you knew it would end this way, Peppers. Your friend, dead. The people you care about, gone. And you... _Alone_."

" **You're a failure**."

In the end, Lewis ended up in a sobbing curl ball, too weak to hold anything back at this point. While the oddly familiar voice could only chuckle in self-pity.

"Finally... Something we have in common."

The air suddenly calmed down around him, the sand slowly brushed away from a forming circle, and the source of that voice appeared in front of him. With some gathered courage, he looked up at the figure that brought him here, with the only thing that could come out from his cracking voice, he dared to ask,

"... Who are you?"

His grin only widened, even if only a little bit.

"I'm called by many names, young ghost. But you might call me..."

With a snap of fingers, he lifted up his body from the sand, his raven hair floated from the chill wind as his green eyes pierced through Lewis' glare effortlessly.

" **Marcus**."

The last thing Lewis had seen, was his smug grin before he lost consciousness once again, falling in the pit of darkness of his sub-conscious, where he could finally rest... for now.


	2. For a Price

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis woke up from his short slumber, what he thought to be a nightmare turned reality, or at least partially did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So whew, it's been a while since last time I've written, this chapter will seem more light-hearted than the previous one, but Lewis is still in some deep shit as always.
> 
> Oh also a bit of LewViThur, if this continues i might change the title of this story into something that fits more.

Lewis's body bolted away from the ground, shaken, confused, he quickly looked around himself to realize where he was, for a moment he started to hope all of what he did was a dream, and all he dreamed... from what little he could remember from that, was a dream. First things first, he had to calm himself down.

Shaking his head a little bit, he slowly started to get on his feet, finding it surprisingly harder than usual, it slowly sank in where he was in the first place. And it got only worse from there.

He quickly bolted towards the cliff, hoping he was remembering it all wrong, Arthur must've been still fine with Vivi around right? Probably onto solving their mysteries together, yeah... that has to be it right? He would never hurt Artie or Vivi... Never...

His Purple Ghost Pupils widened at the horrifying sight, Arthur's body was barely recognizable from the pool of blood he was covered into, his eyes lost colour a long time ago now, his breath was probably gone the moment he hit those spikes, and just like that, he was gone... actually gone.

The purple ghost began to shake wildly, of rage, of sorrow and of regret. It took an extreme action like this to finally snap him out of it, and it costed his dear friend's life. But... he was his killer right? It was an eye for an eye, a righteous revenge, then why did it felt all so wrong?

His memories turned back on the clock just a little bit, he saw the terrified look on Arthur's face that now he hated to see, the moment he revealed his face the only thing he told him was his name, and it was confused, shocked even to see him, and that clicked something inside him, enough to know he royally screwed everything up. Guilty or not guilty, did he really deserve the same death as his? No... of course not, violence was never his way to solve things, and seeing Arthur's corpse only fueled his regret.

He wanted to get down there, to bring him back somehow, if not human anymore at least a ghost, anything to see him again! Arthur could see Vivi again... Vivi... oh God...

Vivi was in danger, in actual danger against that tree lady thing and he focused on his own pitiful revenge instead, ahat the hell was wrong with him! 

He punched the ground, hard, enough to shake the cave a little and echo the sound of his punch out of the cave, he began to grip his ghostly hair, if Vivi will survive that... no, she will definitely survive that, she'll kill him, Lewis or no Lewis, he was officially dead for the second time. What the hell has he done?

Lewis felt another presence behind him, was it already Vivi? Was she here to avenge Arti-... Arthur? He felt a grip way bigger than what Vivi could muster, with a little bit of courage, he dared to look just who was behind him,

"Hey."

A raven haired man with dark green eyes and a little bit of facial hair greeted him nonchalantly, almost borderline bored even, he definitely never saw him before, yet he felt awfully similar to someone he knew.

"You finally woke up, took your damn sweet time, that's for sure."

Eh? Who even was this guy? He didn't look like someone who wanted trouble with him nor anxious to be friends with him, a complete stranger in a place like this... his attention was brought back from the sound of his snapped fingers from his fingerless gloves.

"You even there yet big guy? I know you must've had one hell of a dream, but I deserve some of your attention dont'cha think?"

Lewis was completely clueless why he even was here to begin with, including that his timing couldn't be any more worse, just when he was about to mourn and give a proper burial to Art... and try to selfishly bring him back, this guy appears out of nowhere.

"Uhm, excuse me but who are you?"

For some reason that brought a grin on the guy's face, taking some distance to properly introduce himself, he could see his eyes shining in the shadows, he was a ghost too.

"Oh right, I nearly forgot that. Name's Markus."

The nonchalance of this guy was getting more obvious by the second albeit confusing him more, but it helped understanding him a little better. Getting a better look on him, he had a suit just like him, his was way more chaotic looking and very bartender-ish, dressed up all in black and with green double chain belts with a green handkerchief on his left breast pocket.

"Markus... what?"

"Just Markus will do."

His grin made him both smile on the inside for some weird reason and uneasy, he didn't felt like a foe but he also looked like he could snap his neck out if he felt like it.

"Anyways! Now that you can finally communicate, i got a little proposition for you, Lewis-chan~"

He cringed hard at the little nickname Markus gave him in such a short time, what bugged him way more was something else,

"Please don't call me like that, how do you even know my name to begin with?"

He looked back at him with an expression that made him feel even more uneasy than before, followed by his grin it was getting even worse,

"Oh right, well I heard it from the blondie before you dropped him into the spikes."

The mention of Arthur nearly brought Lewis back in his grief, the presence of this thing kept him from showing any more vulnerabilities to him.

"What are you even doing here?"

Markus took his hands into his pockets, sighed briefly and looked at him even more bored than before, Lewis didn't know why he even cared to begin with, perhaps he was getting tired to be a disappointment for everyone.

"Simple really Lewis-chan..."

Again with that nickname...

"I followed that big ass truck of yours, it's goddamn eye catching y'know? I was curious to see what was going on, and here i am."

Even if he was very suspicious, he couldn't deny his lack of subtlety, defeated, he didn't want to push his luck too much with this guy, he was rather tired to figure him out tonight to begin with.

"Fine... what is this proposition of yours?"

Honestly Lewis was surprised how openly expressive this fellow ghost was, his mood turned into a whole 180 the moment he mentioned that,

"Finally asking the good questions Lewis-chan! See, i couldn't help but to notice the regret in your eyes, wrath got you right in the arse eh?"

He clenched his fists, how could someone take a murder so lightly?

"I take that as a yes. Well I have good news for you! This one will benefit the both of us, and that Blondie gurgling blood."

He definitely wasn't someone to be blindly trusted, but at this point, what did he have to loose? He was probably screwed either way, might as well throw his dices and see if he wasn't the complete douchebag he thinks he is,

"Sure..."

Lewis could swear there won't be a boring moment around him, it could seem that Markus could jump all around in excitement when he accepted to hear him out,

"Excellent, Lewis-chan! Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

It took a minute for Markus to calm down a bit with his grin of his still intact, Lewis was already regretting this decision.

"Aw don't make that face, this is a guaranteed bonus for both of us I promise. So! Here's the deal, the state that the blondie is in won't come back without a reason, gotta convince his soul to stay y'see, otherwise he'll be gone for good."

Lewis slowly nodded to his explanation, so far it sounded way more simple than it surely actually is, but he seems to be covering the basics of it.

"Right now, he's uncertain to remain or to go, will stay like this for quite a while so we have time for your fiancee to arrive as well. Now that only won't be enough, he doesn't have any raw emotions to physically remain here as a ghost, so I can sustain him!... If you'll accept my terms of course."

He had quite a few questions, one of them involving on how the hell he knew about Vivi, but if he was right, the clock was ticking and Arthur could be gone anytime soon for good, he simply had to suck it in and have a little trust, for how undeserved, to this guy.

"Fine, I'll hear your terms. But explain me this one then, why can't I do it alone?"

His grin only widened, almost expecting him to ask this peculiar question,

"Oh you can try if you want, but from the looks of it, you're no expert of soul resurrection now are you?"

Markus didn't wait for an answer, he recognized it from the distant look in his eyes to get his answer,

"Thought so. Alright so here's my price for it. Since i'll be aiding in the resurrection, i want to be his guardian."

Lewis blinked a couple times in his human form, he was sure to even bet he would've wanted his soul, to emotionally manipulate him into accepting something he would regret later, but even he knew what it meant to be a Guardian, and that was the last thing he would've expected to hear from the likes of him.

"His... Guardian? But why?"

It was the first time the fellow ghost hesitated to answer, his playfulness was shortly replaced with a more serious and almost sad tone that was worryingly close to someone he knew,

"... Let's just say i need a new purpose..."

And his past behaviour quickly returned, only for Lewis to not find it creepy or spine chilling, just sad and... lonely.

"So Lewis-chan~ Is it a yes or a no? I would advise to decide now before the others catch up, I can already hear the van approaching..."

Lewis bit his ghostly lower lips, it sounded so damn fishy, not like deals in generals don't, but this one it seemed to benefit only Arthur, even if he sounded genuine... what was his game?

_'He needs a new purpose, huh?'_

He didn't know who he was, or why was he doing this... but one thing he could get along with, the need of purpose, finally something they have in common.

"Alright... i don't know why you would go through the trouble for that... but, for some reason..."

He looked right in his eyes, determined towards the fellow ghost,

"I trust you."

A new expression on Markus' face appeared, genuine surprise,

"So please, help me get Arthur back!"

Lewis was on his knees, practically begging him to help out, he doesn't exactly know why but, he felt that he owed him at least that much, it was odd and weird how his body and mind acted by itself on this, he could even feel how Markus was stunned by this, only to release a small sigh, not even an ill mannered one,

"Get back on yer feet, ye bloody idiot. Ye don't need to beg me when ye already accepted me offer sheesh..."

Now it was Lewis' turn to turn shocked, the puzzle slowly pieced in together, the voice, the accent... however without all the pieces, it could just seem like he was losing it now, besides that couldn't be right, it wouldn't make a dim of sense...

They could hear the screeching of the van's wheels outside, it sounded like Vivi arrived with her usual reckless and horrible driving, only this time it was more than understandable, it quickly followed by the ground fiercely opened by someone too,

"It sounds like your fiancee and Shiromori arrived."

"Shiro-who?"

"The plantlady, I'm sure you had the pleasure of acquaintance with her."

Shit she was here too? Did she follow and pursued Vivi all this time while he was swallowing his guilt? He had to make sure she was fine, even if his presence would terrify her.

"By the sound of it, Shiromori already got what she wanted, yet she's still here... quite peculiar."

After Markus helping Lewis up, they approached the entrance, he asked Lewis to turn in his human form, with a little bit of hesitance he too knew that he needed to clear the situation out if they wanted Arthur's soul to remain. Only the purest motivation would keep him to turn into something like Lewis did in Re-Birth.

First Markus explained his presence and role in all of this, then the conversation went as one would expected, Vivi regaining her memories after seeing the picture in Lewis' anchor, she was overwhelmed with a lot of emotions, even discovering that Vivi and Arthur started to date not so long ago, which surprised both of the ghosts,

Lewis wasn't as mad as anyone expected him to be, sure he was legitimately feeling conflicted about it at first, and Vivi had still a lot to went out in order to accept everything she re-learned tonight, but all in all, it went way better than they expected, even confessing to each other to have a crush on Arthur, Markus sarcastically thought that they might bring out the whole shebang at this point.

Even if the timing of this whole Love Triangle still needed to be discussed to the soon to be returned Arthur, it felt oddly just right, sometimes you just didn't need to whack the around the bush and be direct, if anything now Lewis was excited to hear how Vivi and Arthur's dates went like.

Markus decided to interrupt with the lovebirds,

"As much as I am interested to hear about all this, we should head into the cave."

With we, he obviously meant Vivi and Lewis first, he remained outside a little bit out of Shiromori's request, that for the first time she decided to speak out as she held Mystery in her arms, 

"You two can go, I need to talk with her first."

After an affirmative nod from the other ghost, Lewis and Vivi went into the cave and do what he instructed while he was away,

"So... care to explain me what you planning at kid?"

Markus raised his eyebrows in mocking question, making Shiromori more impatient,

"Don't make that face with me, you know no matter the situation, i perfectly know who you are and what have you done."

He chuckled a little bit at that, and decided to be direct with someone for once in a while, felt refreshing too,

"Yeah yeah, you also remember the countless times i kicked your ass? Good memories indeed."

She pouted and looked away in an unusual childish manner, truth to be told she showed that side of her only to those she trusted, and for how rocky their relationship might be, they're in relatively good terms.

"Cheating doesn't count, oh Lord of Shadows."

He genuinely laughed at her joke, she should consider doing that way more often, 

"Title still in work, Shiromori."

"You've been always awful with names."

"Heh, true enough."

A comforting silence befallen between the two, Markus decided to break it before he got too comfortable,

"And how's Mystery doing? You two started to sort things out too?"

She looked down at the sleeping dog in her arms, his peaceful mug reminded her of better days, of which she tried to fix,

"Sleeping, as usual."

"Heard you had a fight with Lewis and Vivi. You nearly got defeated by a human... you are getting rusty Granny."

She immediately got red hot of anger at his damn nickname, if she had to give props to this ungrateful brat, he knew how to piss someone off.

"Don't call me like that, or i swear i'll cut your balls off."

"Oh Shiromori, you wound me! I thought we were family at this point."

That they were for Shiromori, but getting called Granny makes her feel too damn old, he should really consider to give elders some respect.

"Hmpf, your problem. Also that girl caught me off guard that's all. She reminded me of...  **her**."

"So that's why you were fighting her, I'm telling you Granny you should let the past be the past at this point."

She ignored his teasing this time, she didn't want to become the source of his ruin in terms of family making,

"You're the one talking, you decided to punish Lewis some more? Didn't he got quite enough already?"

"Who said i did?"

The sudden serious tone of his startled Shiromori, whenever he turned serious it had to be something... important.

"Then what devious plans you set up for the unlucky couple this time? I hope nothing too sadistic."

"Coming from you that sounds ironic. Ruthra as a plant though... only you could come up with that, had a good laugh for weeks... But no, this time it's quite different."

Now that made her curious, he could see it in her eyes while she was gently caressing Mystery's furr,

"And that is?..."

"I'm going to be Arthur's Guardian."

Silence surrounded them once again, and this time Shiromori broke it with a chuckle, she brought a finger on her tears and removed them before she risked to plant a tree in the middle of the desert.

"You keep surprising me, kid. You finally decided to do something meaningful... if i was your relative I would kick your ass for all the troubles you brought on me."

And from a gesture Markus will never expect to repeat from his shocked state, she wrapped a hand around him and gave him a hug he definitely desperately needed.

"And thank you for everything else, you might be a hotheaded, rebellious, prideful, good for nothing nephew of mine, but you have a good heart, between the bads, you did a lot of good things as well."

With Mystery that was sneakily in Markus' chest as a sign of good luck from him, Shiromori too, with some difficulty was able to distance herself from him.

"Now go you silly kid, make yourself a new home here, you need it."

Without a word, he hugged her briefly, but very briefly as he quickly turned around and walked inside of the cave, green tears slowly dropped from his face, unsure how to feel or what the future will be like, but for one thing he was sure.

He wouldn't let Arthur, Vivi or even Lewis do the same mistakes he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point Angst is going to be way lighter, it will still be there, but the main focus is definitely going to be LewViThur fluffiness and Markus shenanigans.
> 
> (Trust me, I have A LOT of silly ideas for Markus appearances, I wanna call those chapters Markus Everywhere - [Insert name of the place], ((Who played Yakuza Kiwami will surely get the reference)) It should be a lot of fun!)
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed it so far!

**Author's Note:**

> So to be exactly honest i'm not quite sure where i was going with this when i started it, i'm kinda experimenting with the subtle surroundings of the story, trying to expand some details and work around Marcus' character.
> 
> I know this ain't anything big or spectacular but i hope you enjoyed some Lewis Angst nonetheless.


End file.
